What can be said about the New Year that hasn’t already been said? Resolutions, goals, plans, schemes, and dreams…each year, we arrive at December 31 with tired, weary, or worn-down hearts, and we look at the new year ahead and dream of new starts and fresh beginnings.
There is, admittedly, something very alluring about the idea of a blank year stretched out before us, all fresh and clean, “with no mistakes in it yet.”*
However, like Tsh, I’m not much of a fan of making resolutions. I don’t know about you, but when I look at my life and the year to come, I feel like I need something much bigger than just me and my resolve.
I need a new song.
I will sing, sing a new song
I will sing, sing a new song
How long to sing this song?
I will sing, sing a new song
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to see U2 perform live, you might have heard them close the show with their song “40”, from their 1983 album War.
It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized that the lyrics from that song are taken from the Book of Psalms (Psalm 40, to be precise – hence, the title).
And actually, the call to “sing a new song” is found all throughout the Bible. When I was younger, it confused me.
What does it mean, to sing a new song? And why does it matter?
I think that as earthly creatures, living our very normal day-to-day lives, we all have a song to sing. We all have a voice, and when we don’t sing our song, our voice is missing from the great chorus of this world. It matters; it really does.
But life happens, and sometimes you forget the words or the tune. Your voice grows weak with illness, depression, or anxiety. Sometimes you feel like you’re singing alone, and you need someone to sing along with you and bolster you up.
And sometimes you’ve been singing the same song for far too long, and it’s not the right song for you anymore. Your song has grown tired, or outdated. Maybe your song is just too small for the great longings and dreams of your heart.
You need a new song.
This longing for the new song, the fresh start, the blank slate – it’s okay. It’s good. It’s part of who we are, and how we’re made.
So don’t waste it. Find your song.
Find your new song, and offer it up with all that you have. We need you; the world needs your voice.
I once had the gorgeous experience of listening to singer-songwriter David Wilcox play a show in a little town outside of Cincinnati. When he finished singing, he looked out at us and said, “Sing your life. Live your music.”
Yes. Sing your life. It’s a new year, starting today.
What will your song be this year?
*said by the indomitable Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery
